Trophy Wife Says "We'll Market Anything For a Buck"

From producing Viewmaster reels to scratch-N-sniff flyers and custom Wheaties boxes, the self-marketing requirements of today’s music biz can result in some offbeat promo endeavors.

“We sell what we call a ‘hands-free cell phone device’ on eBay,” says Trophy Wife singer/guitarist Joe MacAskill, “which are really just headbands to hold the phone against your ear, with our band logo hand-drawn onto it.” The “devices” sell for $5 to $8.

“We’re just trying to market different, goofy things. We’ll sell them at our shows, maybe throw one in as an incentive to purchase a CD. It would be great to see someone driving around town with one on their head. I’m assuming the cops can’t give you a ticket, but I’m not brave enough to try it myself.”

Among the band’s other promotional ideas, “We bought a bunch of candles and put a picture of our album on them. We’re shooting a video soon, and we’re auctioning off guest spots in the video, and we also have Christmas cards we’re working on for this year.”

“At shows, we occasionally sell other bands’ old T-shirts or CDs.”

To help finance recording, MacAskill says “We have a program where people can invest. $25 gets you a CD before its release date and a pass to get into shows. For $100, you get to sing backup vocals on a song, and you get a mention in the credits. Let’s just hope those people can sing in key, or that they don’t make us look bad by singing better than we do.”

“We did try to auction off a date with Trophy Wife, but nobody bid! If CD sales don’t pick up, you may see us standing on the corner with Trophy Wife Car Wash signs.”